11

Bad Singing and Good Chocolate

Location: Boruca and Terraba Reserves

Today, aside from a seemingly endless amount of time spent on the bus and several brief stops, we crushed beans with a rock. It’s much more interesting than it sounds, and that’s not sarcasm. Soon after we arrived at our new hotel, we made and drank a traditional Costa Rican hot chocolate. Part of the process of making this drink required crushing cocoa beans with a large rock, which we all took turns doing. The drink, though slightly more bitter than I had wished, was really good, and when I mean good, I mean good. Nearly everyone had downed their mugs within a minute of getting their drinks. Afterward, we played several games as a group and eventually returned to our rooms. Though today wasn’t nearly as action heavy as some of the others, between both the hot chocolate and the loud and at times terrible singing, we all enjoyed ourselves.